50 Shades of
Orange
“Only 130 yellows on the last 3-day trip. It was a blow-out, bru.” lamented Matt Gorlei, one of the Kalahari Outventures guides, as we arrived at the farm house on a scorching Northern Cape afternoon. Of course we nonchalantly agreed and offered deepest sympathies, but most could not suppress their inner fish-starved excitement to sample the water. Particularly if that is what a bad trip looks like.
12 SeriousFun@JFFC FEBRUARY 2018
A lot has been publicised about the Outventures trips, but I can profess that it is all true – it really should be on your bucket list. Particularly if you are a yellowfish fanatic. In essence, this 4-day trip takes eight of you down a 40 km stretch of the mighty Orange, starting just below Augrabies. What makes this section of the river special is that they are the only operator allowed. You are therefore in true wilderness, completely isolated from anything that can detract attention from the important things in life such as fishing. And oh there be fishes!
Our group varied from the completely uninitiated to a few mediocre anglers – no pro’s around,notwithstanding our appearance and talking. Despite this, we all managed to convince quite a few scaled beauties and uglies (read muddies) to find their ways to the net. We experienced typical September conditions, with the exceptionally clear water proving to be the biggest challenge.
~ Deo du Plessis
“Only 130 yellows on the last 3-day trip.
It was a blow-out, bru.”